Iseult of Cornwall

Iseult of Cornwall (died 878) was the Irish shadow queen of Cornwall with King Peradur during the 9th century. After Peradur's death in 878, she absconded with the adventurer Uhtred of Bebbanburg, and she was killed by Skorpa of the White Horse at the Battle of Edington later that year.

Biography
Iseult was born in Ireland to a Celtic pagan family, and she was trained to be a gwrach, a sorceress who could predict the future. She was taken as King Peradur of Cornwall's shadow wife, but, as her charms only worked if she remained a virgin, Peradur refused to have sex with her, instead keeping her as a tool. In 878, she tricked Peradur into hiring Uhtred of Bebbanburg to retake a fort from Skorpa of the White Horse, knowing that Uhtred and Skorpa would betray and kill Peradur, setting her free. She guided both of them to the King's treasure, and, when Skorpa betrayed Uhtred and stole all of the King's treasure under the throne, Iseult secretly guided Uhtred and his men to another hidden treasure under a dungheap. Iseult accompanied Uhtred as he left Cornwall for Wessex, and she appeared at Uhtred's trial before the Witenagemot, which forced him to resume his debt to the Catholic Church, cancelling out his gains from the sack of Cornwallum. Uhtred refused to allow for King Alfred the Great to send Iseult back to Cornwall, and she went on to save Alfred's sick child, the future King Edward the Elder, but predicted that another child would die as a result; Uhtred's firstborn died shortly after. Iseult continued to follow Uhtred until the Battle of Edington, when she and the other camp followers were massacred by Skorpa's horsemen while they were behind their army's lines. Skorpa taunted Uhtred with Iseult's severed head, provoking Uhtred to go berserk and kill Skorpa and several of his men.